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Kurdish women killed in Paris

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Demonstrators rally by the French Consulate in Istanbul to protest women's deaths

A French investigation of the slayings of the three Kurdish women in Paris continues

An autopsy reveals that all three women were killed by multiple shots to the head

Speculation is rife over any link between the deaths and peace talks with the PKK

Several hundred mostly Kurdish demonstrators gathered for a rain-soaked protest in front of the French Consulate in Istanbul on Friday, a day after three Kurdish political activists were found shot dead in Paris.

The crowd, made up of Kurdish nationalists and left-leaning Turkish political parties, chanted "Sakine Cansiz is immortal."

Cansiz, the oldest of the three women murdered in the Paris offices of the Information Center for Kurdistan, was famous for being a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. Turkey, the United States and the European Union label the PKK a terrorist organization.

Demonstrators also chanted "Long live Apo," hailing Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the PKK.

"This could be an internal settling of scores, or it could be an initiative that was taken to create an obstacle in the way of the new honest steps we are taking," said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the semiofficial Anatolian news agency.

On Friday, the PKK rejected suggestions that the killings were part of an internal feud.

In a statement published by the Firat News Agency, a pro-PKK web portal, the PKK's Executive Committee blamed the murders on "international powers and the Turkish gladio."

"Gladio" refers to alleged shadowy paramilitary groups accused of carrying out acts of political violence on behalf of the Turkish state.

"It is not possible for this bloody attack to be carried out in a central place like this without the support of international intelligence services and states," the PKK added.

Meanwhile, a Kurdish lawmaker told CNN that the bodies of all three Kurdish activists were expected to be sent from France to Turkey for funerals, though she added that an arrival date has not yet been set.

"This could be a bullet that is shot in the head of the peace talks," said Sebahat Tuncel, a parliament member from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, speaking to CNN after Friday's peaceful protest.

Many in Turkey fear that the triple murder could derail delicate peace talks between the Turkish government and the PKK, which launched a guerrilla war against the Turkish state nearly 30 years ago. More than 40,000 people have been killed in one of the Middle East's longest-running conflicts.

Kurdish activists accuse the Turkish government of decades of discriminatory policies against the country's largest ethnic group. Turkish security forces have arrested thousands of Kurds in recent years on suspicion of terrorist activities.